


After

by GalekhXigisi



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Gen, Medical Inaccuracies, Suicide, Trans Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Trans Male Anxiety | Virgil Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 06:51:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20253958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalekhXigisi/pseuds/GalekhXigisi
Summary: After death, the ghosts come to play.





	1. Chapter 1

Patton could feel the tears collecting on his cheeks, falling thickly onto anything and everything there. He hadn't known the young adult for long, no more than just a few months, but he had known him no less. He had been a ghost for years and, unlike the others in the house, he hadn't seen a death, much less a  _ suicide _ in front of his eyes. 

The man was only newly nineteen, moving just after his parent's deaths, or so Parton thinks, though he and the others weren't exactly sure. He had watched the teenager break down again and again, sobbing so horribly as he recounted the murders of them. It made Patton ache, watching him mourn again and again for months. 

"You're so brave, kiddo," he whimpers as he holds the hand of the passed out teenager. 

The teen had swallowed whatever pills he could get his hands on. Allergy medication, antidepressants, anxiety suppressors, and so on until it had been roughly a bowl-sized amount, all swallowed on an empty stomach. Patton had been there the entire time, crying out as he changed into the fanciest clothes he had, writing down words while gagging and seizing. Patton sobbed, the ghosts so unable to help the struggling boy, to get him to throw up what he had taken. 

He was cold now, clammy from sweat. His body shook unhappy. Virgil was just barely alive, heart far too fast, absolutely aching with sharp pains. His binder was done up tightly, only aiding in the aches as the cool soon-to-be corpse laid on the bed.

"You're so,  _ so _ brave, kiddo. It's okay, I promise. You can move on now. Things will be  _ okay." _

Patton had only been there for maybe twenty years, he couldn't remember. After dying, he faded in and out of it all. One day, it was just after his death, the next and entire five years later. It was rather confusing and he still didn't know what year it was. However, this was new and he absolutely  _ hated  _ it. 

Logan places a gentle hand on the fatherly ghosts' shoulder, watching with sad eyes as teary ones look at him, head still ducked as the salty lines splattered on the floor. Logan shakes his head, slow and unforgiving. The young adult,  _ Virgil, _ was dead, passed on now,  _ gone. _ His body had stopped moving and, if Logan didn't know any better, he would have said the heart would have exploded by then, but he was no doctor and doubted it truly would. 

Patton wails, his cries carrying through the entire house. Even Roman, the second oldest of the ghosts, broke out a few tears. Even after seeing so many die, it didn't mean he was any happier about it or that it was and less painful to watch. Of all things, and Pattons' first view had to be a  _ suicide. _ Roman feels far more than just pity for the youngest ghost in the home. 

Except, suddenly they're aware that he's  _ not _ the youngest ghost anymore. The pale-faced newcomer stared at their own lifeless corpse, standing at the foot of the bed in silence. 

"Oh," is all he says, glancing half-heartedly at the other three ghosts in the room. Roman silently blames the nonchalant reaction on all the medication, all of it blocking down emotions. "Hm, that's unfortunate." 


	2. Chapter 2

The newest ghost fades in out, though he's mostly  _ there,  _ sitting silently wherever he can. Roman hated to admit that he screamed once at finding Virgil atop the ceiling, sitting cross-legged with music blaring, body upside down. Roman had no idea how he got up there or even how he got the music to play, but it was playing all the same. 

He was gone the day his body was found, though, and the consecutive week that followed, everything inside the home that wasn't attached getting thrown out. He can back the instant the final bit was tossed, looking saddened as he watched the last moving truck leave. He started at the large window to the mansion-like home. 

"S'not like anyone will miss me," he mumbles softly, nothing more than a peep beneath his breath. 

Roman hears it. He hears it so loud and clear. The house was silent as could be, the rest of the ghosts gone to wherever it was they went when they had free time to be ghosts. He's thankful Patton didn't hear those words. The first time Roman had even considered uttering an unhappy comment about himself, Patton had threatened him with a deathly serious  _ I will physically fight you, Roman, don't tempt me. _ He doubts it would be any different now, especially with the fact that Patton broke down every single time he saw the youngest ghost. 

He steps forward, cautiously asking, "Is there truly no one left to miss thee?" He still wasn't the best with modern talk, but he was trying his best. It was the thought that counts, right? 

Virgil doesn't let his eyes move from the door. He supplies, "Maybe my brother and his fiance. I haven't talked to either of them in years." 

"Fiance?" 

"Husband to be." 

Roman raises a brow. "That's… That's okay again?"

Virgil nods. "Yeah. It is." He keeps looking, vision not budging. 

Roman silently decides to pry, much against his better judgment and common-sense, alike. He softly asks, "Why haven't you talk to them?" 

"If you think it's because I'm homophobic, I'm not," Virgil states solidly. 

Roman blushes, hands coming up to fan out in front of his face. "I don't even know what that means!" 

"Disliking those who like the same gender as their own." 

"Then, no!" 

Virgil jumps at the yelling, vision finally moving. His gaze is cast upon Roman. For once, Roman absolutely  _ hates _ the attention he's getting. Virgil looks just as he did when he died, unlike the others, who had been cleaned up by the time they fully formed as ghosts. He's deathly pale, hair white with striking eyes to combat the focus. The albino adult had dark bags beneath his eyes and red rims from all the medication, permanently stuck higher than a kite. 

Roman remembers the time he  _ had  _ seen Virgil genuinely high. He had been buzzed, bring home some man that Roman didn't know the name of, and, as it seemed, neither had Virgil. That night, Roman had disappeared after seeing pants come off, joining Patton in the backyard, Logan decorated with his own dark blush. When he had seen Virgil a few mornings after that, the young man had sobbed, taking an assortment of medication and becoming violently ill afterward. Patton hadn't told Roman what the different pills we're for, but he had assured Roman that it wasn't a suicide attempt and that the violent breakdown after that wasn't because of just depression or mourning. 

"I would never! I've seen you bring a man home!" 

Virgil's cheek brightens, but he looks far angrier than anything, turning away with a sharp slam of his foot. He grits out,  _ "Please,  _ don't bring him up, Roman." 

Instead of prying on  _ that,  _ Roman asks, "Then, really, why haven't you walked to them?" 

"We had a big fight." 

"About?" 

"A lot of things. We're biological siblings and it started up a lot of problems." 

Roman raises a brow, even  _ more  _ confused. His brother couldn't be any worse than his own, could he? 

"We fought a lot, just like siblings do, but… I don't know. Some legal stuff happened and I was in the hospital for a while. It was just… everything was too much and we crumbled." 

"Did… Did he try to kill you?" 

Virgil flinches, shaking his head. "No. No, he didn't." 

"My brother killed me," Roman mumbles, sighing. 

"Why's that?" 

"Brotherly instinct? Attack on sight?" 

"The Cain Instinct."

"The what?" 

"It's a meme." 

"A what?" 

Virgil sighs. 

**Author's Note:**

> Roughly based around tssidesghostau on Tumbkr. The idea is quite fetching! 
> 
> Link to their Tumblr: http://tssidesghostau.tumblr.com
> 
> Connections to me!
> 
> Please join my Discord server!  
https://discord.gg/eGkwayy


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